Joliet Cut-Off Remnants
There’s another less talked about railroad line that was abandoned in Gary. It ran from Lake Station (East Gary), IN, to Joliet, IL. It is none other than the Joliet Cut-Off.
At over 45 miles, the Joliet & Northern Indiana Railroad (J&NI) completed the Joliet Cutoff in 1855. J&NI was the brainchild of Joel Matteson and several other Joliet businessmen who wanted their interests better connected to eastern railroads.
Michigan Central Railroad (MC) leased the J&NI for it “cut off” 30 miles from its Detroit to Chicago run. However, coming to Chicago from Joliet meant a new market separate from regular Chicago operations.
J&NI was a “non-operating entity,” the same as “Gary & Western” would be later. They did not own any railroad equipment or locomotives. An annual fee was charged to railroads who wished to utilize it. Michigan Central was its primary customer, yet MC stopped passenger service on the line in 1925.
Skipping much history, J&NI was folded into the MC system, which was then folded into the NYC system in 1930. NYC and Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) merged to form Penn Central Railroad (PC) in 1968. Penn Central, which allowed the Cut-Off to fall into significant disrepair, folded in 1970 and ended all freight service on the Cut-Off in 1972.
In 1976, PC’s successor, Conrail, did not pursue line ownership, citing redundancy and maintenance costs. The Cut-Off was ripped up immediately between 1977 and 1978 from Lake Station to Griffith. Conrail didn’t have to wait the standard two years—for the Cut-Off had been abandoned four years. The subsequent abandonment from Griffith to Joliet wouldn’t happen for nearly forty years.
The line was still known as the “Joliet Cut-Off” throughout its existence and even today in memory.
Regarding the lost Lake Station and Gary segment, the Joliet Cut-Off (referred to from now on as the JCU) is ancient history, forgotten by time. Yet, I haven’t forgotten it, and I’m making sure you don’t either.
The Exploration
This is advanced exploration. It took me years of research, mapping, and the expunction of many resources to do this. It was more complex than hopping in my car and rolling around.
I had to take into consideration that this is Gary. Folks distrust people lurking around with cameras, even in broad daylight. Secondly, I am from here and currently live here. However, there were some areas where even I felt uneasy. It was all in my head, but still. Yikes. The trepidation wasn’t enough to trump my curiosity, however.
West 40th & Broadway
Thousands pass this intersection every day, not knowing that a railroad had a crossing there. The clues are hidden in the details. Evident to us railroad fanatics is the telegraph pole adjacent to the Ace Cleaners building at the center-right of the photo.
Here’s a better look:
Telegraph poles lined most railroads back in the early days of electronic communication. Companies such as Western Union would lease property adjacent to or directly on railroad right-of-ways, for their paths were already clear of obstructions and led to most major cities and businesses. Railroads would use telegraph poles as well.
These types of poles became obsolete when buried communications lines rose in popularity. Some roads never took down the poles on their abandoned lines, such as in Gary. So we get treated to a small piece of history every time we find one.
Next, we have an actual rail sticking out of the ground like a monster’s hand coming out of a buried coffin. Outside of these two features, nothing physically indicates a railroad ever crossed here.
There are other clues, but they are harder to see from the ground. Look at the map below and see if you can pick them out.
East 40th & Broadway
This was not a crossing, yet a few scattered pieces of infrastructure were hidden in the foliage.
Sidwell Portico indicates a church owns this property, but there’s a bunch of NIPSCO stuff on it and some type of pumping station. I’m unsure, but it’s a small brick structure resembling a utility shack behind a fence.
40th & Massachusetts
Here, there is a larger shack that is also behind a fence.
The small shack is across the street and is shown below.
I don’t know what they are for. They are only relevant to me because they sit on the old JCU right-of-way. There’s nothing railroad-related left besides the cracks in the street that retained the memory of the railbed below.
39th & Pennsylvania
This location was built directly on the old right-of-way.
As you can determine by the numerous yellow lines, there was significant activity here. A nearby business, 100 E 40th Avenue, had two passing sidings and a storage track. It was built in 1921, but I don’t know what this business was or why it needed railroad service of this caliber. Today it’s a junk yard of some kind.
Above is a 1938 image of the right of way, shown diagonally. North is up. Broadway is the double-laned street at the left, running north/south. You can see the unknown business at the center of this enhanced picture with railcars parked on the sidings.
A church was built on the former right-of-way. This is what it looks like now.
There is one more telegraph pole at the southeast corner of the building.
39th & Delaware
Today, the Delaware Street crossing is overgrown. Yet, there are a few vestiges of the former railroad remaining.
Behind the gates of the garbage-strewn property sits an abandoned playground set. However, look toward the bottom lefthand corner. Can you see it?
If you saw it, congratulations. It’s the concrete base of an old signal or crossing arm. After all of these years, it has not been removed.
Note the diagonal cut of asphalt in the street. This is the outline of the former JCU rail bed. I doubt if there are still tracks underneath.
39th & Maryland
There’s not much to see here except for cracks in the street. The fence is on the west side because the railroad (Penn Central) still owns that land. On the east side, you see a wood fence. The right-of-way went through there as well. That property is privately owned, so I took no pictures of it.
East 39th Avenue & Virginia Street
At East 39th Avenue, using the above photo as a reference, the railroad crossed diagonally from the corner of the wooden fence line (which is an alley) to the next corner on the left, Virginia Street.
Using the above photo as a reference, I stood behind the corner of the wooden fence at the alleyway. I faced northeast towards the intersection of E. 39th Avenue & Virginia Street.
At Virginia Street, the land is wild. As with Maryland Street, this small section is still owned by Penn Central and thus has been left to be reclaimed by nature.
I am still at 39th & Virginia. However, I am facing southwest towards where the JCU traversed E. 39th Avenue proper. You can see the diagonal asphalt cut in the street, representing where the railroad crossed. I searched long and hard and found no type of physical infrastructure. I even looked at the asphalt cut, which had been cold-patched to death. There was no evidence of rails below the street that I could see.
The Demon House
A little-known fact is that the Joliet Cut-Off ran right by the infamous “demon house.” I took a picture of the property the house used to sit upon just for fun.
This is getting very long, so I’m going to stop writing and continue with part two at a later time!